The Rose Hourglass: Book 3
by Elizabeth.M.Kelli
Summary: Book three! Yay! This time the story is told by the youngest least known of my characters. Can you remember her? Probably not. Anyone just finding me, please read Rose of Time: Book 1 and Black Rose: Book 2 before beginning this story.
1. Chapter 1

Book 3

Act I, Chapter I

The Obnoxious Narrator

Hello, you might recognize me. But you also might not. My name is Emma Macay, last time you saw me I was eight. I'm now 14, so don't start getting annoyed because this stupid book is narrated by a midget. If you must complain please do so to Miss Elizabeth Kelli, because she is obviously to blame.

In case you don't remember me I made a short unimportant appearance during Book 1, which lasted only shortly into Book 2. Sadly I did nothing important. Well not on purpose. In fact the one important thing I did the entire time was most likely unnoticed by anyone who happened to be reading, because it just wasn't obvious. Although Miss Kelli did try, she failed, miserably.

Well if you're wondering why she would decide to bring me back…well that's most likely because she wanted to recount all my stupid stuff that a did before going back to the past, and why I didn't turn up earlier. Yeah that's really her reasoning. It's actually more likely that she didn't feel like coming up with a new character to narrate and so decided to use me. I'm sure she's regretting it now, because I know her too well.

Well that's all beside the point, especially since Miss Kelli is grinding her teeth and giving me murderous glares.

Well you all remember me disappearing suddenly right? Well that was because at that particular moment my dad lost all hope of finding my mom, for a little while. When he had his hope for the future back I came back, but in my time. I then got grounded because I went into the past without permission, and I meddled with the flows of time. I was grounded for three whole years and tightly watched for another three years. I'm finally off probation, so that's why I rejoin the story here.

Of course I don't rejoin the story exactly where Michelle left off, because that would make things too confusing, so I picked a different day. It's actually three and a half weeks after joining up with Kora, Rand, Katja, and Matt. During that time my mom, well I should really say Megan…so as not to confuse anyone. But anyway during that time she kept putting off going back to Japan, because she went and looked at the flow of time (that's forbidden by the way. That's why I was in so much trouble), and saw I would be showing up. Cheater.

Well anyway, travel through the flows of Time is really strange. Because if you don't think really carefully you could come out a hundred or something. What I mean is that you don't think of yourself exactly as you are something could change, like you might get older. Of course they improved time travel between my time and Chibi-Usa's time. Because if you didn't realize I come from a time just before Usagi and Mamoru take the throne as king and queen of Earth. So I live in a time of chaos and war, while Chibi-Usa lives in a time of peace and serenity. So I obviously don't like her much, she acts like such a brat because she is pampered in a time when pampering could be allowed. I however have never been pampered; I have lived in a time where any pampering could prevent someone from surviving the next war.

But it is really cool to see the flows of Time. I'm pretty sure that Setsuna could see them without entering the place where you travel, but the rest of us can't even when we have powers of our own. Oh wait I didn't tell you did I? I have my own Power, which is actually really different from either of my parents. My mom has a really strong Power which can destroy all the Worlds if she's in a bad mood, but my dad's Power is much more modest, and really not good for much without proper training. Mine is in the middle, but it's only good for one thing, even with training. It only works to manipulate time. Not strongly like Setsuna, but I can still do it. Without this use of my Power I wouldn't be able to travel the time flows anyway. As I said they improved it a lot.

Well when I travel through the time flows I have to know exactly where I want to end up, which in this case is very close to where I left before. The funny thing is that time moves at different rates on different Worlds, and different times even. So while it was years in my time, it was only a month or two in my mom's time. Of course the time back before she was my mom.

Well enough about that. If I think of something later I'll just tell you. But I should tell you how everything continues before you come track me down to kill me, Miss Kelli is very close to doing so herself

I showed up in a central point in the flows of Time. That would be a spot not far from the center of DC. The reason why it's a central spot I can't tell you, because of course in doing so I change the flow of Time. But the reason why I chose that spot was because it wasn't too far from where everyone was staying at the time. I mean it was a bit of a distance from Katja, Matt, Rand, and Kora. But they had their own houses and such, so it doesn't matter much.

I'll tell you know that I look pretty much like my mom. I'm not much younger than her in this time, and I look like I could be her younger sister. I've got brown hair, which I wear cut in a really short bob, and slightly reddish brown eyes. I wear glasses, and I'm about five foot five inches. I love wearing my mom's clothes from when she was a teenager, because I think the styles are really cute My younger sister says it makes me look stupid.

I tell you this because when I met up with my mom, dad, and everyone else they all knew right away who I was. Mostly due to my looks. This conversation and the entire scene went like this:

"You're Emma right?" Megan asked in a rather curious tone of voice.

"Yep, I am. I came to help you guys out, because there's something wrong in my time. And if there's something wrong in my time, then there's even more wrong in Chibi-Usa-chan's time," I told them all bluntly.

"You look just like Megan," That was Matt, and he said this in a really weak voice.

"Yeah, and you're Mr. Whitmire. You're my best friend's dad, and one of my mother's best friends. My mom once had a crush on you, and you temporarily broke her heart by not noticing. I have always thought you were a bit of an idiot, my entire life basically," I told him staring straight at him I wasn't going to tell him that his wife died when my friend and I were ten. Nor was I going to explain to him that in a past life he was a highly accomplished scholar, and he really wasn't stupid at all. But rather the smartest person (book-wise) of all my mom's friends. Hannah of course was the most intelligent overall.

"Emma, you know you really shouldn't tell people about the future. I've been sworn not to for years now," Chibi-Usa said in that stupid voice of hers. It was too cutesy and girly. It really bugs me that it comes out of a girl who looks ten or so and is actually over 900 years old. That should bug everyone right?

"I told him nothing that wasn't obvious. Besides, my Power is centered on the flows of Time, and being able to manipulate them. I'm no where as good as Pluto, mostly because my mother wouldn't let me study under Pluto, but I still have a sort of middling average strength. It's not configured to work like a Sailor Scout anyway. That's what my mom told me. That if I wanted to study with Pluto I had to be her successor," I punctuated this with a glare at Megan.

"That's in the future I don't know what will prompt me to say that," Megan said with her innocent face on. But living with this woman for the last 14 years has taught me that she is never innocent. While the blame might often be pinned on my sister, my mom was usually egging her on. It makes you wonder what type of mother she is. But oh well.

"Yes you do. I know you peeked at Time while you were in the Place of Mirrors; it's really the only way to explain some of the things you do. Both now and in the future. Like delaying allowing Michelle to take the spells off everyone," I told her in my proudest voice. Which she countered with her most arrogant stare. It was a look that kind of said 'I'm a princess in several of my past lives and if you continue to insult me like this I will shoot your heart out with my belled arrows.'

Now I'm sure some of you have no idea what I'm talking about with 'belled arrows' but in my mom's last life she was a princess, then later the queen. But she was one of the most famous shots with the bow and arrow from the time when she was very small all the way to her murder. Her bow was very special; she carved it and fitted it in weight and length to herself perfectly. But what makes it unusual is that at the bottom end it has a thin silver chain, from which is hung a several silver bells. Each arrow in her quiver has a single silver bow at the end. So as the arrow rockets toward you with perfect precision even in the heat of battle the last thing you hear is the tinkling of bells. My mom insists that it's a merciful death, because there is no horror in the last moments, only beauty.

"I am not delaying anything. She simply said that she didn't have the necessary materials or it," Megan countered.

"Yes, but she has everything she needs in Japan, you're putting off going back for some reason. Why?" I asked folding my arms under my chest.

"Because there is work to be done here yet," Megan said her voice losing some of its arrogance; even she knows when she's caught in the act.

"Like what?"

"Like improving our powers. You can train with Pluto now, if she'll have you," Megan said calmly. I really wonder about my mom sometimes. She's crazy.

"Of course I'll train her, she's nearly as strong as I am. And the flow of Time has been disrupted. I think it will take her to put everything where it should be," Setsuna said coming up.

_Hi there!! I felt that since Emma introduced me in this chapter I should give you a running commentary going on at the bottom of the page. So for this chapter I kind of wanted to just show you who I chose to narrate the story this time. I'm sure you all were hoping for Megan/Mami/Rose/Lela because I brought her back for good. But no such luck on your part. Emma was going to reappear and be really important for this chapter, so I decided to have her narrate this one._

_I think it's very important for you all to hear how Emma becomes Setsuna's successor as well, so I went ahead and tossed that in. We'll see all of them training together soon, so you can understand things a bit better. I think I'm going to have an ongoing rivalry between Chibi-Usa-chan and Emma, because Emma really dislikes her._

_Oh well! I'll see you in the next section!_


	2. Chapter 2

Act I, Chapter 2

The Hourglasses

"Training everyone," Luna announced as everyone sat down for breakfast in a nearby McDonalds.

"Aww, Luna," Usagi whined quite pitiably.

"You need it. You haven't been in a real fight for awhile. You've been letting Mami, Hannah, Corey, and Lan do all your fighting for you. I'm sure you've been eating too much as well. So we will start training today. Since it seems Emma will be joining our ranks," Luna looked so prim sitting there eating a piece of scrambled egg with chopsticks. I have no idea where she got those chopsticks either, because we were eating at Cracker Barrel.

"Really? But how? I thought she couldn't transform," Chibi-Usa said in that stupid eager voice of hers. God I hate that girl.

"It's a simple matter of concentration. I haven't formatted my Power in that way. But I just need a simple rod, and I can make it so that it will fit me and my abilities. I'm going to be Pluto's successor," I told her in my coldest voice and picked up a piece of bacon with my fingers. The glare I got from Megan who was sawing at her own bacon was such that I really had to force the laughter that wanted to escape down.

"What? Puu? But she's going to live forever!" Chibi-Usa said heatedly. That's another thing I dislike about her. She calls Sailor Pluto by something so immature as 'Puu'. I show her much more courtesy, I always have and I always will. Pluto is the oldest of all the scouts, both physically, and mentally. Although I think that Mars has her beat spiritually.

"Of course she won't! No more than you will! You're 900 years old for god's sake! Can't you behave a little more maturely?" I asked dropping the bacon back on my plate. I picked up my purse and left the room. I haunted the shop instead. I didn't have a way to get back to the hotel without the rest of them.

"What's wrong?" That was Lan. He's always been the more mature of my parents, although they're really the same age. He's very handsome, and if I didn't know he was my father I might have developed a crush on such a kind and handsome man.

"That girl. I don't understand how she can be so cheerful. She's lived through wars and fights, so why is it that I'm bitter and angry all the time while she's cheerful and happy to the point it's disgusting? Is it just genetic?" I asked sounding annoyed with how whiny it sounded. I didn't mean it to come out in such angry and petulant bursts.

"I think it's just the atmosphere of when she grew up. You come from the age between now and Crystal Tokyo correct? Well that was a time of war and chaos as far as I know. She grew up in a place where you can be optimistic and happy all the time. While you grew up where such things can kill," Lan said calmly, but avoiding eye contact.

"Yeah, I know. I understand all that. But I still can't stand her. She could have at least colored her hair. It bothers me that it's such a bright pink. And that hairstyle, it's bad enough when it's rounded into balls on Usagi, but on Chibi-Usa it's pointed! It really bugs me," I said gripping a small fistful of my hair in my hand. I started pulling the tangles out of it with my fingernails, it's a habit I picked up from my mom.

"You're just like your mom you know," Lan said in a soft voice and a smile.

"What? She never loses her temper over stupid people, just over her own stupidity," I said with a little shock.

"Yes, but she always vents off her anger with me and she habitually untangles her hair with her fingers, just like that. Besides that you look just like her, well except you're taller than her and you keep your hair short and out of your face. While she loves having it in her face," There was a slight chuckle from him. How strange that seemed coming from a time in his life when a smile was a very rare thing indeed. His wife smiled more than most of the world's populations put together, but he was nice in a serious way.

"I don't know whether that was a compliment or an insult," I said as I heard Megan run into the edge of a doorframe, again.

"I don't know either," he said with another smile and a bit of laughter hidden behind the words.

"So where are we going to train?" I asked Megan as she paid for some candy for both herself and me. She felt that since she was going to be my mom in the future she should take care of me. She doesn't need to, but I get candy out of the deal, so I can't really complain.

"I don't know. Luna will find one. Although it would be easier if everyone was more powerful," Megan said this last in a rather disgruntled mutter.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked rather curious. I thought they were all pretty strong at this point.

"I mean…You know what happens between now and then right?" Megan looked uncomfortable, as if she hadn't meant to say anything. But Megan was Megan after all.

"I've heard stories about what leads into the chaos of my time. But I don't really know well, what few schools still function focus more on the fighting arts, or business, or medicine, and there's little known or taught about recent history," I told her truthfully. I mean she wanted to know. I shouldn't have told her that though.

"Well, during that time all the scouts are sleeping, except for us few who are only scouts in that we modeled our Power after theirs. They trusted us to keep things safe for them, but we really couldn't. It was just too much for us. So the chaos locked into the fabric of the world was released. But when they woke up again Sailor Moon no longer existed. Neo-Queen Serenity simply couldn't transform. But the other scouts had slept so that their powers could go through an evolution. They looked like Eternal Sailor Scouts, but their powers had grown exponentially. In that form Saturn could rip a whole in the weave of reality for a short time. Using that she could then create a small mini universe inside that rip, and that was where they trained. But Saturn hasn't reached that point in her development yet," Megan explained in a tired sounding way. As if she expected me to know all this. Most people in my time don't even know that the Sailor Scouts exist in the first place.

"Well then we'll just have to trust in Luna then won't we?" I said calmly.

"Yes, I suppose we will," Megan was lost in thought, and it took me ten tries to get her to give me the canister of Jelly Bellys I got her to buy for me. She bought one fore herself too, I got my love of jelly beans from her, and she got them from her dad. So our family loves the jelly beans.

"Here, we'll train here," Luna said leading us all in her human form.

"Here?" Haruka asked incredulously. I must agree with her. Luna had chosen an empty field just outside the city limits. How were we supposed to train when everyone and their brother can just walk up and watch us?

"Saturn, I hope you remember what we've been working on," Luna said evenly.

"Yep!" And like that Hotaru was Saturn, and leveling her glaive. She set a sparkling purple barrier around the whole area.

"What's this? I didn't think she could do this yet!" Megan cried with surprise.

"Since when do you know the future?" Chibi-Usa asked acting at her brattiest.

"Since she looked from the Place of Mirrors. I know my time, and you know yours, and Pluto knows them all. But my mom knows lots of bits and pieces. She's a horrible sneak. I know for a fact that she used to search the house for Christmas and birthday presents until her parents died. She never did figure out where they hid them though," Everyone looked a bit shocked at Megan at these last few words, but they were completely true. I mean she told me herself that she started looking for the 'secret hiding place' when she was five, and she never found it, even though she kept looking all the way up through my grandparents deaths I'm glad of the sheepish look on her face because it meant I wasn't in for a scolding.

"You looked at the flow of Time!? You could have been killed! You should know that the Mother doesn't take kindly to people looking at her Grand Scheme! How could you be so stupid?" Michelle asked her friend with disgust.

"But how was She to know? No one's seen Her since She was last disgusted with me for killing everyone on an entire World. I suppose She's still hiding Herself. Although I wonder sometimes if perhaps She hasn't simply reincarnated Herself," Megan said happily.

"How can you speak such blasphemy? You know better than anyone that She's even more Powerful than you! And you're still the only Incarnation to ever be this Powerful. But you still couldn't stop time if you wanted to!" Michelle countered angrily. Everyone was watching the two of them like a tennis match.

"Of course I could! But I dislike meddling in such things. I suppose if Time had to be stopped then it would be left to those specialized in that craft. You should know that my specialty has nothing to do with Time, and its mysteries," Megan said seriously. I'm surprised at her, she was so composed. Normally she would be blowing up by now.

"What are you specialized in?" Usagi asked curiously. Michelle and Megan both gave a jerk as if they had forgotten that other people were there.

"I suppose I'm much like Saturn," Megan said obliquely. But that made me wonder, had I ever seen my mother use her Power. I knew she was immensely Powerful. But I don't think I've ever seen her Power in action. Not even on my last trip through Time. But I know her colors were pink, gold, red, light blue, silver, and black. But those colors come from a mixture of lives. Her favorites were light blue and silver. And she decorated the whole house in those colors, much to my father annoyance, because the only other colors in the house were black and white for accents.

But what could that mixture of colors say about her Power? I really don't know because she said that her Power was like Saturn's. So was it death, or was it the opposite and life. In which case you would assume that Sailor Rose can't exist and without Sailor Saturn, or Saturn without Rose. Because that would create an imbalance in the very fabric of reality. To have the champion of life exist without the champion of death or vice versa would create mass chaos perhaps that's what happened…No that's not what Megan said was it? She said, _"the chaos locked into the fabric of the world was released."_But wait could the slumber of death's champion have created the unbalance that would make Chaos stir in the first place?

"Mom?" I asked into the sudden silence.

"Yes?" Megan replied without hesitation.

"Are you Life's Champion?"

"I should have known that you would figure it out with that hint. Yes, I am Life's champion, much as Saturn in death's. Many people view 'Life' as good and 'Death' as evil but in their choice of champions I often wonder if it's not the opposite," Megan murmured so quietly that if everything hadn't been still I doubt any of us would have heard those words. Was that how she saw herself? As evil? As the champion of evil? You have to wonder why she would think such a thing. Something so far out of the ordinary, that it isn't even normal for someone like Megan who seems to have no brain at times to say.

"But Life and Death are both basic elements, like water, fire, or wind. That's why two scouts can possess those elements as their own. Like how Mars has fire, Uranus has wind, and how Neptune and Mercury both possess water in different forms. None of those are inherently good but they aren't inherently evil either. The element any of us possess that is inherently good is love, possessed by the two Moons, but even they could be evil if their hearts were warped, into loving what should not be loved. Feeling pity and sympathy for the evil of the world and trying to change it is what they do, not love it outright," I have to wonder where Luna practices her speeches because it always sounds practiced. I mean how does she do it? I know the future (to a point) but I never have the perfect speech planned out. But somehow Luna who only knows the past says the perfect speech. That really bugs me.

Everyone stared at her for a moment before Artemis broke in, "Time to get to work!" He then paired everyone up. I was to work with Pluto (duh!), the other three outers would work together as well. It would be Luna and Rose, Osseus and Elle, Venus and Mars, Jupiter and Mercury, and Chibi-Moon would be working with Moon. Artemis and Diana practiced together as well. But the most interesting part was watching Tuxedo Mask and Prince Lan sparing.

"So, first we'll need you to transform into a senshi. Do you know how?" Pluto asked as everyone paired up.

"I'll need a henshin rod," I answered calmly.

"Right, here you go," She tossed me a short stick with something that looked remarkably like the Garnet Orb at the end. I could feel that it only had a small amount of Power in and of itself. That little bit of Power was simply a way to control and direct the use of my Power.

I held the rod to my chest and felt through its Power thoroughly. Then I released all my restraints on my Power. With that action words and images rushed into my head. Among those words were the ones I knew I needed to call out.

"Time Rose Transformation!" I called them strongly and confidently. They caused a rose colored light to bloom around me, mixed with the deep garnet which represented time. But the best part was the sparkles of pure white energy which shone through the streaks of light. It shone around me twirling first one way, then the opposite, as if going forward and backward in time. Each time it changed direction part of me was covered in a piece of a fuku.

"Very nice. I wasn't sure you could do it so quickly," Luna said from behind me, I turned to see that no one had started practicing yet.

"What?"

"I wasn't sure if you could reconfigure you Power so quickly. From what you said before I assumed it would be a complex process. I suppose I was wrong," Luna said with a smile. Artemis then got everyone started on what they needed to work on.

"Now that your Power is configured, can you come up with an attack?" Pluto asked with a gentle look in her eyes.

"I don't know," I said and looked down. I'm sure it was swimming around in my head just a moment ago. But I couldn't remember it. So I examined my fuku instead. It was different from anyone else's and I had to wonder why. Megan's was unusual in the way it was made as well (who but Megan would think to have her skirt halfway hanging off of her?), but mine was different even from hers. It was made in layers. The bottom one covered only the bare essentials with curving lines of rose colored fabric. The layer above it was shear to the point it didn't really have a purpose, and it covered in a slightly looser version of the traditional fuku (this fabric was shimmery and a color between white and silver). The last layer was the bow, collar, and eternal type sleeves all done in garnet colored fabric. To my surprise there was a little chain belt with a pink and garnet glass marble in a silver cage, and an hourglass shaped like a rose bud made out of a garnet on it.

"Oh I've got it now!" I said happily.

"What is it?" Pluto asked without much expression.

"Time Hourglass Call!" I yelled out and the hourglass on my chain belt glowed as a beam of rose, garnet, and pure white shot at Pluto. She blocked it without thought on the end of her staff.

"That was pretty good. But do you know what it does?" Pluto asked lowering her staff back.

"It calls the time remaining to a person or creature's life and calls it to me. And if I had succeeded all that time would be stored in an hourglass, which I can clip onto my belt, or get rid of, depending on the enemy," I said quickly with enthusiasm.

"What can you do with the stored time?" I think Pluto was giving me a quiz.

"I can give it to someone dying to restore their life, or I can keep it with me to extend my own, which is marked with my hourglass here," I tapped the garnet hourglass on my belt, "I used to have one made of ruby, but I don't know what happened to it. It not only marked my life, but also the life of my era."

"Your era?" Pluto asked with surprise. Wow! I've never heard her speak with surprise.

"I made it do that when I was young and wanted everything to change to a more peaceful time. I did it without much thought. That was when my mom discovered what type of Power I have," I told her quickly.

"An hourglass made out of a ruby. I've seen that before. I think it reappears in another time. Perhaps even this one. Because I know it plays a part in the ending of your era, and in Usagi ascension to the throne as Neo-Queen Serenity,"

"Then I need to find it don't I?" I asked without thinking much of it.

"No, I think I know where it is I believe Michelle has it," At that I turned to look at Michelle, Lauren, Rand, Matt, Kora, and Katja where they sat watching everything.

"Should I ask now?"

"Yes, I think it's too important to delay," Pluto said with her serious face on again. So I ran over to the older girl Michelle. I met her briefly before returning to my time. And I'm pretty sure she saw the rose during that time so I was pretty sure that Pluto was right

"Michelle? Do you have a ruby carved in the shape of a rose bud, like the one on my belt?" I asked her. Michelle was highly trained in the use of her Power in one of her past lives. And so I expect she knew from the moment she saw that little rose that it had Power to it. But I can't guarantee that because my mom was highly trained in many of her last lives, and yet she's still an idiot.

"Like that garnet? Yes I do," As she said that she lifted a silver chain from around her neck and showed me the precious stone, "You left it when you disappeared last time. I have yet to figure out why you left it. But I'm pretty sure it's important. Did you need it back?"

"Yes, Pluto thinks it has something to do with the end of the era I come from, and the beginning of Crystal Tokyo," I told her adding the hourglass to my belt.

"Why doesn't the sand move?"

"Because the hourglass marks the movement of time in my era, it hasn't begun yet," I told her and prepared to go. But she grabbed my arm again.

"Then what does the garnet mark?"

"The passing on time in my life," I told her with surprise. She looked sad after I said it.

"I had a dream last night of those two hourglasses. The ruby one wasn't moving, but the garnet was moving all too fast. So be careful, I think it might be prophetic," Michelle then let me go, but I was too stunned to move.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_So I'm back! I hope you remembered that little dropped hourglass, because I intended it to be important from the beginning. The hourglass was the one important thing that she did before she disappeared in the last Book. I'm very proud of her outfit, but I'm not sure if you can imagine it. I'm thinking that the shear layer would be tight fitting in between the top and bottom parts of the lower layer, but looser on top of the top, and forming a skirt over the bottom. Then I think you can figure out the rest of it yourself. I'll draw it and see if I can scan it into the computer, if I can I'll make it the picture I use as a picture of me._

_In case you're wondering who the person in the picture of me is it's supposed to be my first design for Sailor Rose. This design was featured in The Chibi Sailors, which I haven't finished because I'm going to go back and rewrite it. I'm also going to link it to this one. So go ahead and read it if you want. But I know you'll be left wondering how these two stories are compatible. _

_So that's it for now!! Bye!!_


	3. Chapter 3

Act I, Chapter III

The Enemy Returns

"Can I see your henshin rod?" Megan asked me later that day.

"What why?" I asked completely confused. Are we all completely sure that Megan possesses a brain? Because I'm not at all sure.

"I want to see if it looks like mine! Because mine changed once I started using it," She told me this as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Is there a test we can give her to check and see if there is anything functioning up there?

"I guess," I lifted the rod out of my oversized purse and handed it over to Megan. I hadn't noticed but it had changed. It was now a dark rose color with accents at the ends in garnet, and the figure like a garnet orb at the top had changed to an hourglass shaped like a rose.

"I see, it did customize itself to you. The hourglass, you left that last time right? But this isn't the same one. This hourglass seems to measure something else. But what bothers me is that it's moving," Megan examined it so closely, I wondered if she saw something I didn't. It was possible, this girl might wear glasses but, when things are up close she sees the tiniest of details.

I looked at the hourglass again. This one was a sort of cross between pink and purple. I've seen this stone all over my mom's house, but I don't know what it's for. And the practical knowledge I have of my last life tells me that this type of stone was the second most valuable in Meapation, the first being diamond. But I couldn't recall the name.

"It's interesting that it would be cut alexandrite. It's such an unusual stone, most people don't even know what it is. But it's my birth stone, and yours. Although I'm sure you think that pearl is your birthstone. That's a common myth," Megan said tapping the stone with one of her ridiculously long nails. It's not like they were fake and three inches long or something, it was just at everyone one of them had at least two centimeters of white above the edges of her finger, and it was completely natural, she grew them out that way.

"My birthstone?" I asked gently taking the rod from Megan's hands.

"You were born in June right?" Megan asked as I twirled the rod in my hands.

"Yeah, I was born on your birthday, you always joked I was the worst birthday present you ever got," I told her repeating a joke so old to me I'm sure it's grown wrinkles.

"Then yeah, alexandrite is your birthstone, rose is the flower of your birth month, and you're a Gemini," Megan said quietly.

"The sand's almost out," I said confused, I tipped it upside down, and surprisingly it actually did what a normal hourglass does when flipped over: the sand started flowing in the opposite direction.

"I didn't expect that," Megan said with a pondering expression.

"Hey Emma come here a minute," Kora asked later. In case you've forgotten Kora is the redhead who showed up in the story with Katja, Matt, and Rand. I figured you might not remember her since she appeared so briefly.

"Yes, what do you need?" I asked coming closer.

"I want to ask you something,"

"What?" I leaned in a little closer, because her voice was getting lower.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" She whispered so I could barely hear her.

"No, I was grounded for the last six years, what chance did I have to get together with someone?" I asked moving away from her a little.

"Then have you ever liked someone?" She had a hold of my hand and was pulling me closer now

"Not really, I figured that history was going to repeat itself, so I was going to end up finding someone displaced from my childhood home, like I did in my last life," In case you don't know in my last life I was a highly famed scholar, good enough that I managed to go through a Door, even though no one ever showed me how. I then fell in love and stayed in the other World until my daughter grew up and left, I then felt I had a responsibility to her as her mother to follow her, and make sure she was okay. I ended up going back to the World I had found (this one in a slight future from now) and I had a second daughter there, who stayed with me and my husband until she went to college, she didn't leave us at all.

"So you're leaving everything to fate? You really believe in it that much?" Kora looks so astounded by this fact that I just have to laugh, it was just too funny.

"I leave nothing to fate, everything I do is because the flows of Time have decided it, but it's not smart to go look at what's going to happen in your life, because then would you know whether you did something because the flows said you would do it or because you thought it was right. You'll have to second guess every decision you make for the rest of your life, it's simply not healthy," I told her with a little smile.

"But if you're leaving everything to the flows of Time then won't you have to second guess yourself anyway?"

"No, because I know the flows better than anyone other than Setsuna. I know that nothing happens without a purpose,"

"Now you sound like you're talking religion. Do you ever make sense?"

"I am a cradle Catholic, just like my mom,"

"You know I think that statement explains more than it doesn't," She said with a wry look on her face. And with that she walked away, and I have no idea what the point of this conversation was, and what the fact that I'm Catholic has to do with anything.

"I'm hungry," Megan whined in her most pathetic voice.

"Then eat something," Rei replied eating a spoonful of chicken noodle soup.

"I can't," This time she said it in what was close to a sob.

"Why not?" Rei still doesn't trust Megan completely, they go for each other's throats about as often as Usagi and Rei, or Chibi-Usa and Usagi pull the same routine.

"Because we're Catholic," I said taking a sip of my glass of water.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Rei sounded so contemptuous of us, not eating just because we're Catholic.

"It's Good Friday," Corey supplied cheerfully. While Corey isn't Catholic she has listened to my mother whine often enough about hunger on days of fasting to understand this. Plus she follows a form of protestant faith, so she believes that today is the day that Jesus was crucified, just like us.

"I'm still confused," Chibi-Usa said causing me to grind my teeth. This conversation has nothing to do with that annoying little twit.

"Good Friday is the day that Jesus was Crucified, so we honor his sacrifice for us by fasting all day. Megan you could eat something small, it's lunchtime" Lan was the one to answer this time. Lan was Catholic just like me and my mom, but he wasn't a cradle Catholic like us. I hadn't realized that he had already converted.

"But everything on the menu has meat in it," If this was a cartoon we'd be swimming in her tears at this point. She'd also have those comical streams of tears flying that are nearly as wide as her face.

"Here," I said pulling a granola bar from my purse for her; I had a bag of trail mix for myself. She gave me this tearful look that was so comical I was laughing. This she put on her injured pout look I left her alone. 'Let Megan be Megan and she will always make you laugh,' that's what my dad always said under his breath every time my mom did something particularly funny, and set the room to laughing.

"You don't have to laugh at me," She said as she pealed open the wrapper. It was a mixed berry trail mix granola bar, so it was the kind Megan liked, which explained the huge grin she had after she took a bite.

"So why are the two of you crazy Catholics?" Usagi as she unceremoniously stuffed a roll into her mouth.

"I was raised that way," The two of us said in unison. We looked at each other for a moment then Megan asked "Am I a better Catholic in the future?"

"You go to mass every Sunday, even though you hate getting up in the mornings. You drag me and dad with you too. But you still whine on days of fasting, and you never deviate from the simplest meals on Fridays, so it's always quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches," I told her, then I plopped a piece of dark chocolate from my trail mix into my mouth.

"I hope I don't feed you disgusting stuff like chocolate," She said with a grimace.

"No, Daddy always provides me with chocolate, because you won't touch the stuff," I told her defiantly dropping another piece of chocolate into my mouth.

"I guess she just gets weirder as she gets older. She used to eat chocolate when I first met her," Katja said resting her chin on her hands.

"Yes, but then I realized that it was disgusting except for a few small exceptions," Megan said placing the last bite of granola bar into her mouth. She then looked mournfully at the empty wrapper.

"By the time we knew her she hated everything but German chocolate," Marie said happily. Marie was completely overshadowed by her past life for awhile, so everyone only recently found out whom she was and how she was connected to everyone. She still has all the memories as her last incarnation (her first to tell the truth), but it's tempered by the quiet creativity and random hyperness of her current life.

"Yes, she would get disgusted when the only choice or dessert was chocolate pudding at school," Michelle added. Michelle's real name in this life is Olivia, or more often Livi. But she leans more towards what she has experienced in her past two lives, and the dreams and premonitions of her next life. In all of them Megan takes a big role, so I've always wondered why in this life they aren't all that close.

"We can stop gossiping about my dislike of chocolate now," Megan said sullenly. She then reached over and 'pulled a Blake' as she called it. It means that when she's out of drink she reaches over and takes a sip of whoever's cup is nearest.

"Hey Emma, your purse is glowing," Minako observed with a bite of meat on her fork. I looked down and sure enough, my purse was glowing. I opened it and found the problem. It was my henshin rod.

"Hey come mine never does that?" Megan whined piteously. But as soon as the words left her mouth she covered her ears as I hearing something way too loud.

My henshin rod lit up brighter for a moment and ribbons with patterns like grains of fine sand and rose buds wrapped around me. I was then pulled into the whole 'Magical Girl' thing as my mom would refer to it. Which mean a bunch of twisting and prancing like an idiot. I have to wonder why no one has ever been killed in the middle of transforming; it takes such a long time.

"That's not normal," Matt remark with a strange look on his face.

"Yeah, but what's wrong with Mom?" I asked without thinking. She was still clutching at her ears.

"Man, does this mean a fight? It meant a fight last time," Haruka said with a regretful sigh She and Michiru had been cute and cuddly with their seats pushed too close together.

"It's gone," Megan said calmly just as Haruka finished, "Of course that means that whatever evil thing that was possessing Japan has found its way here Most likely following all the most Powerful people on the planet gathering together."

"No fight?" Usagi's eyes lit up and she dug into her food with greater zeal than before.

"But there will be," Luna said from Megan's purse. She was in her cat form today, and Megan was the only one with a big enough purse to carry her in Artemis and Diana had come in human forms, which is why I frankly don't understand why Luna would choose to be a cat today.

"You're right about that," said a pleasant voice from behind us. Megan's eyes went wide with shock, Corey gasped, and Hannah made a sort of squeaking noise we would usually expect from Megan. Katja looked curiously at the girl who was directly behind me.

"Alexis, I haven't seen you in awhile," Katja said happily.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Yay!! This one took me a little while because I wasn't positive if I was going to bring Alexis back. But I decided that I could bring her back in this context. I've also been working on a picture of Emma's form as a senshi, and also pondering her senshi name. Just so you know I decided on Sailor Time. I thought it would work pretty well, because she isn't a Chibi Rose, her Power is really different from Megan's._

_I've decided I really love my character of Sixela, and that she should have a part, but I've also decided that I wanted to show the side of her that Megan, Corey, Hannah, and Katja all knew; the 'Good Guy' Alexis. _

_I'll update soon!_


	4. Chapter 4

Act II, Chapter I

What are with these people?

"Back in the flesh," Alexis said cheerfully as I turned around.

"I…I thought I killed you," Megan said turning with a painful expression on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Alexis asked with a smile on her face.

"We fought in Japan. I got depressed and this gang came chasing after me," Megan said trying to turn very serious things into a joke.

"I don't remember. I remember my last life perfectly now, but I can't remember the last two years really at all,"

"Two years? That's about when Megan showed up. Then she was followed by Corey, then Hannah, then Lan, then Malia…well the whole gang," Rei said suspiciously. Rei also gets on my nerves. Not nearly as much as Chibi-Usa, but I dislike the way she dislikes my mom. While Rei no longer suspects Megan of being an enemy, they will never be very close friends.

"But I died?" Alexis looked skeptical, I don't blame her. If someone told me I died in the past I would laugh at them.

"Yeah, you were our enemy. Megan was at her last strength, so she fought with you, and you died. Megan was really devastated," Corey said matter-of-factly. At this point I wondered why we were having such a sedate conversation with someone we had clearly decided was an enemy. But then I realized that they couldn't think of her as an enemy, this was the girl they were all friends with, who (If my mom could be believed) taught her how to draw.

"Well I'm not your enemy, I promise. I'm your friend, remember? Megan you and I talked about Sailor Moon, and you had a collage saved on the school computers of Sailor Chibi Moon, because you never really saw much of her. I mean she showed up around the time that Cartoon Network stopped showing it. I always criticized your drawings because you always forgot the eyebrows," At this last piece we all looked at Megan, I mean this was her we were talking about. To everyone's surprise she was smiling with a truly happy face that we hadn't seen in awhile. It was as if when Sixela died she lost her innocence, and with Alexis's revival she regained all that she had lost.

"Alexis-chan!!" At this Megan stood up, knocking her chair over in the process, and hugged Alexis, even though she had avoided hugging and touching people in general for years now, ever since she moved away from Germany.

Alexis looked lost for a minute, but then she hugged Megan right back, realizing that this kind of thing was exactly what Megan needed to feel better about everything that was going on. It was then that I realized that I was still in the middle of a restaurant dressed up as Sailor Time.

In case you're wondering where I came up with such a conceited sounding name, well it's because the only other logical choice would be Sailor Chibi Pluto. And there was no way in Hell was I going to use a name similar to that annoying brat's name. Besides I have no direct connection with the planet Pluto, except for the fact that when Pluto dies I will have a connection with Pluto, because I'll _become_ Sailor Pluto, I will never be a Chibi of anything, because I'm not small, and I'm not cute. So I won't accept such a derogatory name as my own.

"So who are you?" Alexis asked me after everyone had calmed down, and I had gone back to normal.

"What?" I asked. I hadn't been paying attention, I was instead thinking about how I could prevent my era from ever becoming as bad as it will be.

"Who are you? I saw the outfit earlier, and I was wondering who you were. But now that I see you again you look like Megan, a lot like her," Alexis said explaining her question as well as repeating it for me.

"Oh, my name is Emma Macay. I'm also Sailor Time, but I came up with the name on my own. The only other truly viable choice would have been Sailor Chibi Pluto, but I really dislike the idea of being associated with such a brat as Chibi-Usa," I told her with a grimace of distaste on my face.

"Macay? I think I know that name," Alexis said sounding hugely curious.

"You should, you opposed the Macays most adamantly in your last life. And if you can become Sixela, in fact be possessed by Sixela then you should know some bits of your past life. Even if it's fuzzy and confused. Personally I don't have any _memories_ of my past life. But I know everything intellectually, but there are no real senses involved. My mom is a different matter, when she wants to she can relive her past lives in her mind, as if she were there all over again. All the others simply remember parts o their past lives, but they don't have a past recall as firm as hers," I told her calmly. She knows that she's the 'Evil Queen Sixela' in her past life, and she knows she was possessed by that life.

"Who's your mom?" Alexis looked so curious I had to laugh. She looked a bit indignant at the laughter.

"I thought you could have figured it out by now. Just so you know Usagi was the first one to see me, and you know what she said? 'Not another one!'," I told her still smiling broadly.

"I don't get it,"

"People similar to me would be Chibi-Usa and Chibi Chibi. Hence it was Usagi who so rudely compared me with the person I hate most,"

"Wait, so one of them over there is your mom? And you're a time traveler,"

"That's one of the meanings of my secondary name 'Sailor Time' I'm a time traveler. One of the only people who can travel through Time in my era. But can't you figure out which one is my mom?"

"No, who is it? Makoto maybe? You have similar colored hair,"

"Of course not. My mom is Megan herself. Lela the girl who introduced entropy into the universe in killing all the inhabitants of her World, Rose I the one who chased Ka out of her kingdom and came to rule it in time, Rose II who beat you yourself when she was only fifteen or so. That woman in my mother. Big shoes to fill huh?" This time my smile was wry.

"I suppose they are very large shoes, what with the whole entropy thing and all," Alexis said with a little smile hidden behind her hand. I never expected that the woman who scarred my mom for life to laugh in such an outrageously girly way.

"You scare me," I said in all seriousness, then got up and walked away. She stared after me with a completely confused look on her face, as if the world was collapsing around her and she didn't know what to do about it.

"So what are we going to do about her?" I was walking past Michelle's room in the hotel on my way for some ice when I heard Megan's voice. So I stopped and started to listen.

In case you're wondering we moved to a completely different hotel then they were in when they all came to DC in search of the Door to the Place of Mirrors, so that they could save Megan. This hotel was set up more like a resort, each suite is really more like a large apartment, or a small house. We have several suites like this, and each suite has three bedrooms, a kitchen, a family room, and a little dining area in between. I'm in one suite with Michelle, Malia, Megan, Corey, Hannah, and myself (in case you're wondering the room pairing is Malia and Michelle, Corey and Hannah, and Me and Megan). Another suite has Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, Chibi-Usa, Makoto, and Minako. The last suite has Usagi, Rei, Ami, Lan, and Mamoru (Megan was very upset that Lan was in a different suite, even if the suite was just next door).

Katja, Matt, Rand, and Kora were staying together in a smaller suite, with only two bedrooms, but they had decided to stay at the hotel with us. Artemis slept with the other two men (as a cat), Diana stays with Chibi-Usa and Hotaru, and Luna is still suffering Usagi's snores.

"I think we should keep in contact with her, that way we'll be able to find out if she really is who she says she is or if she's an enemy. Or maybe Megan didn't kill Sixela after all and she's still Sixela," Malia said practically. For those of you who don't really remember her Malia is also named Marie, but her past life completely overshadowed her current life, because she was so Powerful. She has also become an Immortal in this life. In case you're wondering that doesn't actually mean she won't die. It just means that she will age one day for every thousand years she lives, so no one ever notices that she ages, but she is surprisingly still alive even after Pluto (who similarly ages very slowly) dies. I know because I did the forbidden and looked at my future. But In case you're wondering I did this before I began even trying to use my Power to travel through Time (when I was eight) so the stream of Time I was residing on has changed since then, so the future I saw for myself personally has changed drastically I'm sure. But I know better than to look now.

"Yeah, but that's really unlikely. I mean I never knew Alexis to lie. The one who was always lying, was Megan. Megan was a pathological liar, and she's not that much better now," Corey said skeptically.

"Well I know we won't agree on this, so we should move onto the next thought," Hannah suggested.

"And what's that?" Megan asked icily, she didn't like people to know how well she could lie. She had been doing so for as long as she could remember, and she never thinks through what the consequences might be to lie in any given situation.

"Why Emma transformed like that. Was it just like you, Megan, that she sensed a potential danger and so she transformed, or is she unstable," Michelle asked sounding severely serious, and a bit confused as well.

"I think it's a sign of mental instability," Malia said bluntly. I cringed at the tone, such injuring words aimed right for my heart, "I mean it would be definite proof that it is contained within the Soul wouldn't it? I mean look at all the stupid things she did in her last life, she went through a Door without knowing where it went, or if she would ever be able to get back into her World again. Then she fell in love with someone there and abdicated her Royal throne with the clause that the throne must go to her daughter, rather than her younger sister upon her parent's demise. She also went and brought said daughter into our world with only her second-cousin for protection. She didn't even test her for Power before sending her off."

"What does that have to do with anything? It's much more likely that it was because she felt the potential for disaster in one of the flows that Time could take at that moment," Hannah said holding me up as not being mentally unstable.

"I think it was her Hourglass," Megan said quietly. I could almost see them all staring at Megan with astounded looks on their faces.

"Her Hourglasses have nothing to do with it. The Hourglasses are her only means of protecting herself," Corey said dismissing the entire idea out of hand.

"No, one of her Hourglasses flows just like a normal one. But I can feel Power in it. I think that whenever that Hourglass reaches its end she will transform without a choice, but she can turn it back if she needs to," I suddenly love my mom more than ever. I never thought she would be one of those standing up for my sanity, or the idea of me having sanity at least.

"Well whatever the case, it can't be proven without more incidents which support one idea or another," After that I moved on. I had heard enough of this. To think they truly thought I might be mentally unstable. I will tell you now, while I may be annoying, sarcastic, and my account of my life may often be boring, or else missing how I felt on the subject, but I am NOT mentally unstable. Just strange.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hello I'm back!! Sorry this one took so long coming out, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to end it with that conversation. So the next one will tell you more about Alexis and why I brought her back. But since I know the suspense is killing you, they will eventually return to Japan. I mean duh! But it might not be till Book 4, which I have decided will be necessary to continue this story. I have also decided that Book 4 will be narrated by Megan. Yes! So we'll be able to see what's going on in her mind, because we can't tell very well just now can we?

Also I'm starting in on a Time Paradox. I wonder if you can see it yet. But this Time Paradox will allow The Chibi Sailors to be continued! Although I will be rewriting it. So that's it for now!

Again I will say 'Gomen Nasai!" For this release taking so long.

For those who might wonder I've started a drawing of all my characters, there are ten female good guys who I have introduced. There are ten original female good guys. There are four male characters counting both original and mine.


	5. Chapter 5

Act II, Chapter II

Unpleasant Thoughts

"Try your attack on that tree," Pluto told me the next day at practice. It was a tiny sapling, and barely worth the name of a tree. But Pluto had told me to practice my attacks, so I had to use the tree.

"Time Hourglass Call!" I reached out my arm almost convulsively towards the sapling. As I held my hand there the tree grew at a rapid pace, almost too fast to follow. In my hand an hourglass made of wood so thin you could see through it formed in my hand. It was shaped like a perfectly mature willow, which is what that little sapling was apparently.

"Wow!" Chibi-Usa exclaimed nudging the spot where the tree had been. Now there was just really healthy grass.

"Not wow! That was horrible!" I said with a knot in my throat. I could feel my chin starting to tremble and my eyes start to tear up.

"Come 'ere," Megan said wrapping me up in a hug. And it felt so much like being home and my mom holding me tight after my best friend was killed by her older brother that my mind flashed back, trapping me in horrible memories.

"_Emma! What happened!" My mom called as I stumbled in the door. I looked horrible. I had been so stunned that I crashed into a building, and if the police hadn't come by just then I probably would have been raped._

"_I…Emily…" At that point I burst into tears and Mom wrapped me into a warm orange scented hug. I cried myself to sleep, for the first time in years, so my dad had to carry me up to bed when he got home._

_When I woke up, it was to the bright light of the afternoon sun striking the mirror on the opposite wall. I blinked a few times and got up. I put my school uniform on, and left the room, not thinking. My mom was baking brownies again. I've never been in the house when it didn't smell like something baking. Which is why I don't understand why my mom always smells of oranges._

"_Sweets, go back to bed," Mom said when she saw me. She petted my long hair out of my face and turned me back around with a warm brownie in my hand._

"_Emily…She really liked your brownies…" That set me off crying again. Emily had been my best friend for years. In fact when I first got back after my trip to the past Emily was my only friend, because no one else would believe me that I had been in the past._

"_We'll take some to her funeral tomorrow. Can you tell me what happened?" Mom asked when I finally stopped crying again._

"_Emily and I were at the library because I wasn't allowed to go anywhere else yesterday. And her brother came in and told her that it was time to go. As soon as…as soon as they left the room there was a gunshot, so I rushed out and…and…" Again the tears leaked from the squeezed lids. _

_I could still see it fresh in my mind. Emily's brilliant blue eyes stared at her brother in a silent question; why? The golden streaks she had been so proud of were full of a thick dark liquid, which moved sluggishly from the hole blown through her forehead, despite the fact that the heart no longer moved the life giving substance through her body. But the worst was that her brother's face was splattered with her blood and he had a demented looking grin marring the features I once thought to be nice._

"_You saw Emily?" Mom asked kindly, trying to get my story. She probably chased a bunch of police officers wanting to talk to me off this morning. That's the kind of thing Mom would do. She's a bit ditzy, and she acts stupid. And I often wonder we're really related, but she protects me as fiercely as a mother grizzly protects her cubs. Which is pretty cool since she gave up her days as a protector of justice many years before I was born. _

_I nodded my head numbly as tears raced down my cheeks, giving me a tickling sensation, so I had to rub them off. I must have looked horrible because for the first time in years my mom came into my room and tucked me in. I was asleep in seconds._

"Are you okay now?" Megan asked as I rubbed the tears from my face.

"Yeah, just some memories came rushing up," I said with a sniffle. After Emily died I didn't have anyone left, the few people who used to talk to me stopped doing so.

"From your last life?" Malia asked calmly. And it was fully Malia today, some days I couldn't tell that she was one of the most Powerful people alive, but today was not one of those. She sounded world weary and wise.

"No, from my past. You try living in my time without getting some bad memories," I said sharply. It was probably sharper than it needed to be, but all of the sudden Emily was really fresh in my mind, and I couldn't be pleasant Nor could I pretend that I didn't still carry weapons with me all the time.

I always wear gloves or long sleeves so I can conceal thin knives between my skin and the fabric, more knives rest in my boot tops. But the most effective weapon I carry is a tiny gun, which holds only one shot at a time tucked into my waistband.

"I most likely will live in your time someday, looking much like I do now I don't wonder. But what is so bad about it? Global Warming? Wars? We have that now," Malia sounded so much like she thought she knew everything that I couldn't help it. I untransformed and pulled the gun from where it rested against the small of my back.

"Try having to carry one of these to keep yourself alive for more than five seconds," The range of expressions between them went from astonished on Chibi Moon's face to passive on Pluto's. But Pluto will have known enough about my time to guess that I most likely carried a gun with me.

I tucked the little gun back where it came from and walked off. I had left the little hourglass on the grass where I dropped it when Megan stepped over to comfort me. The way the grains of sand trickled so sluggishly through the middle piece even though the tree was dead, reminded me of how every moment Emily lives in my mind. I always had thoughts like 'Emily should see this,' and "It's Emily's birthday today.' As if Emily was out of town for a vacation, but she'd be home in a day or two. As if she hadn't died.

"_Emma! Emma hurry up! We'll be late for school!" Emily called back her tie askew, and blood stained. Her super long hair was matted in long dried blood, and her eyes stared her face full of a question._

"_I'm hurrying!" I called back running and hopping on my foot trying to pull my shoe on while running._

_Emily's brother stepped out in front of me, grinning dementedly. Dried blood speckled her clothes, and her held a gun in his hand. His was much larger than mine, and couldn't be concealed so easily. I always thought that he was weird for carrying such a big gun._

"_No, Emily isn't allowed out anymore. She might get hurt," He looked at me in such a reproachful way._

"_But, who will I talk to then?" I asked my hair swishing about my face in a wind that didn't touch the man in front of me. He was moving away, "Who will I talk to?" I called at him in a panic But now I was alone on the city street._

_I rushed up the sidewalk running towards school, because Emily would be there right? That was where she always was. But the sidewalk was stretching, and I wasn't moving. The sidewalk was suddenly sticky._

_But I kept treading along, even though my feet were sticking further and further into the ground. I turned my head to look at the building next to me, and I saw my hair trailing on the ground._

_It was full of dirt from the ground, and thick dark blood matted the brown locks, making them look blacker than night. I ripped at my hair. Blood means death, and I never want blood in my hair. Because then I'll die!_

I woke gasping for breath. I hadn't had that dream in months, not since Emily's brother had killed himself.

After he had killed Emily he didn't realize what he had done. He kept going on about how no one could hurt her now, and she was safe now. It took awhile for her to find out that she was dead, and no one could hurt her yes, but she would never grown up, she would never make friends again, and that it was all his fault. When this finally sunk into his head he went crazy and killed himself. It took months in a mental hospital before that happened. But no one thought he was suicidal, so he was only kept away from homicidal things. He was quite capable of jumping out of his fourth story window and killing himself.

"Emma?" Megan's voice asked in the darkness. Megan has an issue with lights being on at night, so it was pitch black in that room.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? You've been thrashing and calling in your sleep. I think it was a pretty bad nightmare," Megan asked concerned. I heard footsteps and then a weight sitting down on the edge of my bed.

"I've had this dream before. After Emily was killed by her brother I had it every night until he killed himself in guilt for killing his beloved little sister," I told her in a whisper. It felt exactly like telling Mom about the same dream late one night when I woke screaming and she came in.

We cut my hair the next day. I now have a pathological fear of anything being in my hair, because I associate long matted hair with Emily's death. So says Mom, and she's really good as a shrink. She doesn't have a degree or anything like that, no her _doctorate_ is in the English language. If she had wanted she could have taught in one of the few universities still standing, but instead she stays at home and bakes every day. She bakes everything from chocolate chip cookies, to ornate cakes with decorations so fine you have to wonder if she really has bad eye-sight, or if she just fakes it.

"Is that what was bothering so badly earlier? You don't like death because your best friend was killed? And by someone she trusted no less?" Megan asked the soft cooing noise my mom loves hidden in the back of her throat.

"I'll be okay now. Thank you," I said avoiding her question. I turned over, but I could feel her motherly eyes on my back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So I bet none of you expected just how bad Emma's world is did you? If you've ever read the manga 'Tokyo Crazy Paradise' then you know where I got my inspiration for Emma's world. I'm not sure if the world will ever be that bad, but in this case Emma's world is.

But the way Time works in this story is that Time is a series of river flowing very close together, but never touching properly. Each of these river branches into hundreds of other, which never again touch any river but the ones that branch from it. Each branch is its own separate World, so the only way to move between branches or to move backwards would be to have a Power like Setsuna and Emma do, or to be able to use Doors like Megan/Mami/Lela/Rose and Michelle/Lena/Livi do.

Well that's all I have to say about this one. I'm on a roll today! No releases for like a month and a half, (or was it two months), and two chapters in one day. These chapters are shorter, but whatever!


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